


i constantly thank god for Nugget

by OedipusOctopus



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chickens, Fluff, M/M, but it's based on a true story, gabe and jack ran off after the geneva incident, i've never been struck by lightning so i cannot confirm this is what it feels like, jack is blind, sort of crack?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22027093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OedipusOctopus/pseuds/OedipusOctopus
Summary: Jack and Gabriel escaped from the Geneva explosion more or less in one piece, though Jack didn't escape with his vision in tact. Twenty-three years later, a blind Jack and a graying Gabe raise chickens on their farm in the middle of nowhere, Southern USA. The trouble child, Nugget, escapes the coop during a storm while Gabe is away, so Jack has to chase the damn bird down.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Comments: 2
Kudos: 76





	i constantly thank god for Nugget

**Author's Note:**

> loosely based on a reddit post based on a tumblr post based on a true story that a man regained his sight and hearing after being struck by lightning while chasing his chicken through a storm
> 
> i really don't know why this came into my head but when i read that post i immediately thought of these two old fucks

“Fuckin’ chicken…” Jack ambles down the gravel road outside the Morrison-Reyes residence, trailing after the tell-tale cluck-cluck-clucking of the pet chicken Gabriel  _ swore _ would only improve their lives post-retirement. “Doesn’t even fuckin’ lay eggs.”

The bird lets out an especially loud squawk as Jack must have been close to grabbing the damn thing. Wings flapping and then the chicken sounds like it’s running right out of Jack’s very, very blind grasp. 

“Damn shrapnel, stupid bomb. I want to catch this damn bird, that’s it--”

A resounding clap of thunder booms around Jack, causing his shoulders to tense momentarily. Gabe told him that morning that a storm was supposed to roll through, according to the papers. Sure enough, fat droplets of water begin pelting him in the face, neck, back. The moisture combined with the late summer heat of Bum-Fuck, Nowhere in the South makes Jack feel like he’s wading through syrup as he continues his journey after this  _ damn chicken. _

Of course, the damn thing had to escape its--albeit, shoddy--coop no more than thirty minutes after Gabe went to town to restock on groceries. 

“Alright, look here, soldier, you’re going to walk back here this instant or else--”

White hot heat, searing worse than anything Jack had the misfortune of feeling in his sorry existence rips through his body in a flash. He falls to his knees, hands raising to cup his ringing ears. He thinks he sees a flash of light, brighter than he’d seen since his vision was lost all those years ago in Geneva, and then complete blackness.

-

“--ack. Jackie, wake up.  _ Jack _ .”

Gabriel’s signature gravelly voice rouses Jack from whatever unconscious realm he’d ended up in. With a groan, Jack sits up slowly, elbows resting at his waist, loose gravel digging into his bare skin. He raises a rand to his head. His ears still ring and his temples are pounding something fierce as he blinks open his eyes and sees Gabe leaning over him, face warped with worry--

He  _ sees _ Gabe.

For the first time in twenty years.

He takes a moment to take in the face of his lover. Gabe has aged since Jack last saw him, that’s for damn sure--there are more wrinkles and sunspots spread across Gabe’s face than his fingers could ever relay. His goatee is still there, messy and coarse-looking as Jack remembers, though there is significantly more salt than pepper these days. Dark and light stubble decorate his jaw, halfway up his cheeks. His hair has grown--Jack knows this, of course--and still curls at the end, adorably. But those eyes are as dark, deep,  _ haunting _ as Jack remembers, as Jack fell in love with. 

Those eyes are the same.

“Jack?” Gabe’s voice is quiet, reverent, wavering with curiosity and something else. His eyes widen slightly as they search Jack’s own. 

“I can see, Gabe.” Jack doesn’t know what else to say. He’s sure he could’ve said something a little more delicately, with more lead up, but he’s an old man and honesty is all he has these days. 

That, and his sight, now.

Before him, Gabe is knelt on the ground, one hand resting on Jack’s shoulder, other occupied by that damn chicken. His mouth drops open slightly, his lips trying to form words but no sound comes out. 

“Gabe,  _ I can see. _ ”

Another beat passes, then Gabe’s face breaks into an absurdly large smile, canines this side of too sharp. “Sorry you have to deal with this ugly mug again,  _ cabron _ .”

Jack knows Gabe is teasing, trying to lighten the mood--it’s not every day that someone spontaneously regains their vision, so it’s pretty fucking heavy--but he can’t help it. He reaches out a hand to caress Gabe’s cheek, thumb running across the scar on his cheekbone. Jack doesn’t know when he got it, it wasn’t there when he last saw Gabe. “You’re the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on, Gabriel Reyes.”

A pink flush so deep it tinges even Gabriel’s tanned cheeks fan over his face. 

_ Adorable _ .

Gabe clears his throat and stands, still holding the devil chicken. He reaches out his free hand, offering Jack help up. “I don’t understand how this happened. I come back from town and see Nugget pecking at your prone body on the side of the road. The fuck, Jack?”

Taking the outstretched hand, Jack heaves himself up. He brushes at the dirt on his jeans. He looks down at himself, taking note that his socks don’t match even though Gabe promised him they did when he got dressed this morning. Next to his feet is a scorch mark, no wider than six inches in diameter. He recalls the burning sensation he felt before he passed out, the ringing in his ears, the damn storm. “I think I was struck by lightning.”

“And that cured your blindness?” Gabe’s eyebrows shoot into his hairline. “Modern fuckin’ medicine couldn’t cure your blindness, but  _ being struck by lightning _ does?”

Jack shakes his head, threading his fingers between Gabriel’s. “Stranger things have happened.”

Gabe looks down at the chicken cradled between his arm and his side, then back up at Jack, chuckling. “Yeah, I guess they have.” He swings their interlocked hands between them as he leads the two back to the pickup truck still loaded with groceries. “Let’s get inside, yeah?”

“Yeah, let’s.” Jack smiles up at Gabe before he climbs into the passenger seat. “Love you.”

That flush creeps down Gabriel’s neck as he deposits Nugget in the middle seat, next to Jack. “Yeah, yeah, sap. Love you, too.”


End file.
